Northern Michigan environmental activist Bob Russell touched many lives before losing his battle with cancer last year. “We all were inspired by his life and commitment, and we just wondered, what do we do now? What do we do about his legacy?” says Hans Voss, executive director of the Michigan Land Use Institute (MLUI).

For Russell, sharing knowledge as he faced the end of his life was important. “We had a gathering at my home, and Bob came,” Voss says. “He brought all of his books in and laid them on my coffee table. He talked in detail about the content, and he said, ‘You need to read these books.’ It was very powerful. He was always well-informed.”

The gathering led to the Bob Russell Resilience Reading Project, a community read based on books Russell considered essential to making communities as economically, environmentally and socially healthy and resilient as possible.

Each season, MLUI and partners select a book and discussion date. The first book was Cooked, by Michael Pollan (the discussion was in February). The second book is What’s the Economy For Anyway?:Why It’s Time to Stop Chasing Growth and Start Pursuing Happiness, by John de Graaff and David Batker; the discussion for What’s the Economy For Anyway will occur on Thursday, May 22nd at 6:30 pm, at the Traverse Area District Library.